CLANDESTINE CHAMPIONS- 1974-1980

As a young boy. Robert Boraks spent his summers at a cottage with his family. The

Boraks' neighbours were an elderly couple who frequently received visitors. Men would

arrive in cars, ofien asking young Bobby for directions to the couple's cottage. Boraks

remembers being made aware that the small, hi1old man across the Street was a famous

professor named Tommy Loudon, and that the visitors were his former students. Through

a quirk of fate, Boraks would later on be in pan responsible for re-staning the uTRc.'

When he came to U of T in the fa11 of 1973 as a geology student, someone had tried to

revive the UTRC. The first moming, eight or nine oarsmen tumed up at Argos, where it

became evident that no coaching or boats had been arranged. The next morning, oniy

Boraks appeared and the 1973 season was over. The following year, it was Boraks' tuni

to atternpt organization. "1 wanted to row, bottom lineb2, he recalled, and put up some

flyers around campus. A student-reporter picked up the story and wrote an article

appealing for students to try . The piece also mentionned that if no team was formed,

ro~ving's three-year absencc \vould forcc thc LTTAA to cut the sport from the

intercollegiate budget.' Interest was unexpectedly high and Boraks was left scrambling to

find a in time for the first meeting at Hart House, but fortunately an Argonaut named Gordon Leighton agreed to help. Initially, a few experienced oarsmen appeared but were repelled by the low level of funding, equipment and organization.' Nevertheless. a core group of eighteen aspiring rowen rernained, and they forrned the crews for the

I Robert Boraks, interview by author. tape recording, Belfountain, ON., 7 May, 1999. Although he staned rowing as a high-schooler, Boraks maintains that his interest in the sport was unrelated to his early recollections of Loudon. = Ibid 1974 season. Through the i970s, and indeed since then, Varsity rowing has been camed

out with comparativeiy less funding and institutional leadership. Nevertheless, between

1974 and 2980 the UTRC moved relatively rapidly from basic issues of survival on

minimal resources, through expansion and a search for new sources of funding, and

finalIy to the ambitions of hi&-performance.

That first year, one experienced oarswoman, Lyneilyn Home, had also wanted to row.

Women's rowing was still new to Canada. and had not originally been part of the plan.

Nonetheless, Boraks and Leighton readily agreed to accommodate them and Toronto's

first-ever women's crew was recruited. The objections of the Argonaut Rowing Club

were a major stumbling block. Although Canadian rowing clubs had begun to admit

women in 197 1, and although Boraks and the younger ARC members favoured the move,

the Argonaut board rernained stubbornly opposed, citing the absence of locker facilities.'

The Varsity rowers ignored the ban and the women practiced surreptitiously in the early

momings that faIl season. They got away with it until one week before the Ontario

University Championships. whcn an article appeared in the Globe adMoi/. An ana

Argonaut board made it clear that the UTRC \vould be banned if this continued, but in a

backhanded manner allowed the women to finish their season. With the women barred

from Argo grounds, the male UTRC members had to row the women's shell some 200m out to their waiting teammates. Despite this initial foray, women were excluded from the

Argonaut Rowing Club until 1980. We will return to the issue of women's rowing further in this section.

-- j The Varsin. (Toronto), 16 September, 1974. '' Ibid. 6 November, 1974. In addition to paying a S30 membership fee. the rowers relied entirely on funds provided

by the Athletic Directorate, roughly $1200 plus meal money. Most of that went towards

the rental of Argonaut equipment, and the test towards transportation. It wasn't much. In

order to replace an old wooden oar which had snapped during practice, the rowers

donated their lunch rnoney! The University of Toronto crews, male and female, were woeful thar first season. The women's crew, al1 novice, "finished their race at the

McMaster regatta on white-capped Hamilton Bay with only three of their eight

oarswornen still rowing, and then suffering the fùrther indignity of being blown sideways through the entire sailboat anchorage, before an amused crowd of spectators."' The supposedly "varsity" men's crew contained only 3 rowers with anything more than

mdimentary experience. They finished last in every single race they entered, with one exception:

The one race we didn't corne Iast in was at the Western regatta, rowing in the Varsity race. This American crew came from Duke. They had these huge guys, huge. And we were al1 these little guys in these decrepit old sweatsuits from the 50s. 1 think, and crappy old boats. They looked at us warming up and were chuckling at us and we felt even lower than ever..-

[Ar the stan of thc nce] I realized they were as bad as we were and so I stan to yell ..let's zo!" And so we start ro\ving away. side by side. chugginç afong. just a disaster of 3 race. There were hvo races going on. There was cverybody. way down the course. and us over 500m behind ...The neatest thing was. the race \vas over and thcre \vas this big crowd on the shore. and they saw us corning down. Everybody knew us at this point- the sad-sacks of the circuit- and they saw we were head-to-head \vith these huge Arnerican guys. Everybody started cheering. encounging us. and we actually beat them.

The crowd went crazy. And we went crazy. We were just so happy! Subsequently 1 did very well in races, but I don't think 1 was ever happier. seriously. than at that race. Al1 of a sudden we felt like a team!8

Ibid 23 September, 1974. The Varsir),(Toronto), 15 September, 1975. Ibid. 15 September, 1976. s Robert Boraks, interview by author. tape recording. Belfountain, ON., 7 May, 1999. The UTRC weathered the storm of ineptitude and, minus the women, returned for the

1975 season.

Despite one OUAA win in an exhibition event, they were not much better that year, as the Varsiw headlines "Rowers Slow: first Mue Regatta in 4 yrs", and "U of T oarsmiths narrowly avert victory once more" atte~t.~Realizing that the UTRC could not credibly recruit and retain members by proclaiming its competitiveness, Boraks instead focussed on inclusiveness and fun. "No one was made to feel bad- we were al1 bad", he recalled.

The rowing team attracted al1 kinds of students- some good athletes, but mostly what

Boraks called "Ichabod Crane types", the scholarly, the gangly, the out-of-shape. Lam

Marshall, who was to become a rnainstay of Toronto rowing, described himself as someone who "was fat and played the violin" when he first showed up for tryouts at the

UTRC." He had wanted to play inner-tube waterpolo but had been outvoted by his fnends, who wanted to row. Although they were not fast, the rowers enjoyed themselves.

The almost Monty-Pythonesque spirit of those fledgling years is captured in a black-and- white photograph which hangs in the athletic wing of Hart House- recognizable to anyone who has passed there. Pictured are the twenty-two members of the UTRC. with their backs to Lake Ontario, wearing shorts and dark singlets with a large gothic "T" emblazoned on the front. The scene is an attempted replication of an 1875 daguerrotype.

Vanously the oarsmen are standing, seated or reclining. None are smiling, al1 are staring off in different directions, some have their arms crossed, others are holding ancient

9 The Varsify(Toronto), October 15 and October 1 7. 1975. 10 Lamy Marshall to author, 4 May, 1 998, author's collection. wooden oars aioft. and one is stroking his beard. I think it looks hilarious. In parodying the staid. traditional image of their sport, the rowers made it quite cIear that they intended to have a good time and party hard, no matter how slow they were on the water.

This philosophy also applied to the other rowing club at the University of Toronto. Bob

Boraks, who was not competing in 1976, also started a rowing prograrn at his college,

Erindale. Based in suburban Mississauga, Erindale was afiliated with the Don Rowing

Club. located at the mouth of the Credit River. Since the Don R.C. aIlowed women to row, there was an Erindale women's crew along with the novice and junior varsity men's eights- 26 athletes in all. Coach Robin Wight earnestly proclairned that "crews must quit smoking (because good respiration is important), curb drinking habits, do their calisthenics faithfùlly, and be prepared to give up part of their social life"." However, in proclaiming the redeeming factors of the sport the Erindale campus paper emphasized the social advantages of CO-edteams and claimed that "afier every race the beer flows like water over the blades and the oarspersons gather strength for next week's workouts.""

Those early Erindale crews wcre as hapless as the St. George campus rowers had been when they staned. In their second season, at the particularly disastrous Toronto regatta;

the Erindale women had a last-minute rudder mishap which forced [hem to row the race without steering controI, [and] prior to their race. the men's eight collided head-on with anothcr shcll. ripping the bow from the boat and causing it to sink. Rescue boats arrivcd within a minute and quickly whisked the men to shore and into the sauna. The bowmen sustained injuries when by the oars of the other crew.I3

Although in recent years Erindale has tumed out accomplished athletes, those early rowers do not appear to have considered it possible for a small college to challenge

" The Meditrili II (Mississauga, ON), 26 October, 1976. '' ibid. l3 Zbid. October 3, 1977. established University rowing pro+gams on the water. Their focus, rather, seems to have been a celebration of futiiity. The first rnernbers of the Erindale Rowing Club also posed

for an 1870s-style photograph."

Although it in no way matched the largesse of the UTAA in the Loudon years or the

Argonaut Rowing Club in the 1960s, the University gave a measure of support to its

"downtown" oarsmen- In 1975, the budget was nearly doubled to $2300, and a special appropriation of $1 100 was set aside for the purchase of oars." In 1976, $5000 was allocated for an eight, christened "Miss Lea" in a cerernony at Hart ous se? Against ail expectations, the Varsity men's eight finished second that year. Leighton wrote to the

Director of Athletics; "no doubt a large part of that success is directly attributable to the purchase of 'The Miss Lea' - and 1 would like to thank you, Dalt, for your assistance in acquiring this sophisticated piece of equiprnent."17 Leighton in particular saw constant communication with the Athletic Directorate as essential in gaining financial support. In

1976 alone, he wrote a regatta report, a report on Enndale and a final report-ls Not satisficd with the purchase of the "Miss Lea", he also made a presentation to Dalt White outlining plans for expansion. stating that the University:

should seriously considcr purchasing another [eight] as soon as possible. By sharing equipment with Uppcr Canada College or the Arponaut Rowing Club, the university could more than its equipment resource at no cost. To provide a mtal ~rw.however. the university would need to acquire: Two pairs (convenib!e to doubies for scuiling), Two fours (convertible to quads for sculling) Two singles (racing quality) One single (workboat quality) One eight.Ig

14 Ibid. Novemer 9, 1 976. '' CITA Ai9-ûûl9/06. UTAA minutes, December 9, 1975. t 6 Ibid. January 8, 1976. Shonly after the christening, the Miss Lea was wrecked in a trailering accident. The insurance proceeds went towards another eight named ,,Miss Lea II". The original shell was rebuilt and narned ,,Ned Hanlan". 17 UTA A79-00 lgIO4O. Lener from Gordon Leighton to A.D. White, Athletic Director, November 3, 1 976. Ibid. '"bid. The 1977 season was a tuming point of sorts, owing much to the amval of Upper Canada

College oarsrnen, One of thern. Nat Findlay, outlined a plan whose goals included

rvinning the Dad Vail regattaz0 and OUAA championship in 1977 as well as participation

in the National Team trials, cornpetition at the 1978 World Championships and ultimately

at the 1980 Olympic Games in MOSCOW.'~ The rowers became sufftciently serious about these objectives to start publishing training prograrns and ergometer test results in the

local sports papers-'7 7 Not imperceptibly, the team spirit began to change from one based purely on fun to one with cornpetitive ambitions. Even Leighton, in writing to Director

White, mused: "should we strive for excellence or be content to remain within the

O.U.A.A. fran~ework?"'~

Experienced oarsmen began to arrive and stay, although their joining the UTRC was mostly incidental. Matthew Lawton, who had rowed at UCC and spent his first year at

Waterloo, had transferred to Toronto because it offered nuclear engineering. Tim Turner, also from UCC, had been turned down by the University of British Columbia, and failed to sain admittance to other engineering programs. OnIy U of T accepted his late application. Turner was a gifted rower who had just represented Canada at the World

Championships and whose approach towards racing was extremely ~orn~etitive.'~

'O The Dad Vail regana is the Arnencan srnall college rowing championship, and takes place in Philadelphia each spring. " Toronto Spormveek, 9 Decernber, 1976. "Ibid. 10 March, 1977. " UTA A79-00 19/040. Leighton to White, ibid. "' In his first email to me, he expressed the hope that my crews had ,,kicked the shit out of Western". When 1 responded that we had beaten thern, he wrote back ..Glad that you busted their asses". Turner competed in the 1984 Olympic Games. Oarsmen like Lawton and Turner added a winning edge to the club's already well- developed sense of fun. as advocated by Bob Boraks.

The 1977 season proved to be a heady mixture of sophomonc behaviour and speed. Al1 crews- novice, junior varsity, lightweight, and varsity- won their share of races on the

University circuit. At one regatta on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Lawton and Turner distinguished themselves by winning a pairs race in record time, while Boraks, tnie to form, had a brief chat with the visiting Queen Elizabeth II." The rowing team parties gained a certain notoriety, though fondly rernernbered by many who took part. A cocky and crude account published in one of the less-reputable campus papers illustrates the sort of spirit that normally remains undocumented:

On Oct. 29, the teams leave for St. Catherines to compete in the O.U.A.A. Championship. The U of T crews expect a complete sweep of the events, and Western et al need not bother attending since they might as well Save their bus fare for next year.

Afier winning the O.U.A.A. Championships, the team will celebrate with the Erindale women's crew in the back of the bus. The ladies just love to practise their rowing technique such as quick hands, moving in and out together, and curnming trom behind. As ail the women Say, "U of T oarsmen stroke it longer!"'6

The predictions of victory were not unfounded however, and the University of Toronto did indeed capture the overall OUAA title, ied by the victorious lightweight eight. At the tirne, Bob Boraks compared the ~ictory.a scant three years after starting the team, to "the feeling you get when you're the fint to yell BINGO at the Runnymede Bingo ~alace.""

Underdogs within the rowing circuit and within the U of T athletic community, the

Varsity Blues oarsmen had beaten the odds.

- -. '5 The Vursity (Toronto), 2 1 October, 1977. In 1978 Tirn Turner began to assert his leadership of the rowing team. Whereas Bob

Boraks had been concemed with the UTRC's survival within the University of Toronto and Argonaut systems and with the fostering of camaraderie regardless of sporting c~m~etence'~,Turner chose a more independent and competitive route. He pursued athletic excellence to a greater degree, raised funds ambitiously, established a women's program and temporarily withdrew the team from the Argonaut Rowing Club. In the spring, a Toronto Iightweight crew competed at the Dad Vail regatta and the Montebello

Marathon regatta in Ottawa and won both races convincingly. Three U of T oarsmen,

Turner, Matt Lawton and Stan Sokol, represented Canada at the World Rowing

Championships. Turner was busy on the fundraising front as well. Since he believed "the

Argo club had nothing but junk at that time", he considered new equipment to be essential to winning racesSz9Whereas past endeavours had focused on coaxing more funds out of the University coffers, Tim Turner looked to other means. The club charged a $25 membership fee and $1600 was raised from pledges on a spnng row-a-thon. The biggest coup was the negotiation of a $7000 Wintano gant, rnatching funds raised by an alurnni ~arn~ai~n.'~With the proceeds. the UTRC purchased two more boats and a trailer.

Wornen's rowing was another issue where Turner disregarded lack of University support and nonetheless succeeded. After the 1974 caper, the Argonaut Rowing Club made sure that no other female rowers set foot on their docks. Leighton had sought support for

Toike Oike, undated, 1977. 27 Toronto Sportsweek, 24 November, 1 977. '' For his efforts in 1977-78, Bob Boraks was rewarded with the James M. Biggs Award. 29 Tim Turner, to author, August 1998, author's collection. 30 The Varsiiy (Toronto), 13 Septernber and 6 October, 1978. Turner's father, then president of the .,T- holdersU-the men's athletic alumni association- was invaluable in contacting the Loudon-era oarsrnen for donations. wornen's rowing frorn Anne Hewett, the director of women's athietics. but to no avail."

Because several wornen had rowed at the Don R.C. during the summer of 1975, in the hopes of representing Varsity in the fall, the lost opportunity left Leighton complaining bitterly that "the administration has killed the ~~01-t."~'Boraks found it ludicrous that

Toronto was "the only University not to have a women's rowing team. Even Trertr has one."3' The Toronto rowing scene changed in 1978 when Sam Craig, a vice-president of

CARA, founded the Hanlan Boat Club on Cherry beach in the east end of the harbour.

Upper Canada College, which had been affiliated with the Argonauts, moved there after that partnership had soured. In the fa11 of 1978, Turner circutated a flyer to see if U of T women wouId be interested in rowing: "The response was huge so 1 agreed to coach with another guy, John ~eavitt."~'Having contacts with Hanlan's through UCC, Turner based the women's team at the new location. At first, the women learned the basics in the pool- side trainers at UCC, but then graduated to real rowing. One oarswoman recalled that they would "head out and around into the ship channel where we would row right up against these enormous commercial cargo container ships and the crew would be smoking on the deck and looking way down at us."35 Fifty years after Tornrny Loudon's crews had trained on the ship channel, it was the women's turn to ply the same waters.

3' UTA 79-0019/040. Anne C. Hewen to Gordon Leighton, July 2, 1975. ..With the budgetary restraints that we are presently facing, we couid not see our way clear to allocate any fun& for any new programs such as rowing." '' The Varsiiy (Toronto), 17 September, 1975. Finances are the lesser issue. Perhaps the University coutd have forced the Argonauts to open their doors to women, but 1 know of no instances where senous attempts were made in this regard. 33 Toronto Sportsweek, 24 November, 1977. Emp hasis added. 34 Tim Turner to author. August 1998, authorbscollection. 35 Elizabeth Stirling to author. 24 May, 1999, author's collection. The women fared extremely well in their first year, winning the OWIAA novice championship. Success built rnornentum. In the summer of 1979, varsity oarswomen, joined by others from Queen's and Western, won championships at the Royal Canadian

Henley Regatta. This was a very determined group. Liz Stirling recalls that "it was a huge part of my Me for those yean."36 Her crewmate Karen Wright, a star varsity hockey player, loved water and early mornings. Of her novice season, she recalled that "we had great chernistry, great coaching and a really dedicated group of athletes... ln those eady days we had access to good equipment and Tim had a great relationship with UCC and therefore we were treated very we11."~' Wright was to be a mainstay of the team for five seasons. Turner rernembers one recniit: "She had transferred from Carleton and probably weighed 1801bs and was incredibly shy.. .Kay was of course a great source of pleasure although 1 take only the smallest credit for getting her on the right path. She did the re~t.")~Kay Worthington would go on to win two gold medafs at the 1992 Olympic

Games in Barcelona. The women's successes at home rnirrored Canadian results internationally. Though women 's rowing was still wi thin its first decade in Canada, medal-winning performances at the 1977 and 1978 World Championships, culminating in a victory in the eight at the 1979 World Championships. gave them great credibility. In rnost Canadian rowing clubs, this confinned the place of wornen on the water." Yet. despite this evidence and despite the talent and cornmitment exhibited by the women's

Varsity program, the Argonaut Rowing Club still refused to admit them.

36 Ibid. 3 7 Karen Wright Pitre to author, 7 June, 1999, author's collection. 3g Tim Turner to author, August 1998, author's collection. 39 Peter King to author, Aprii 19, 1999, author's col!ection. Turner's response was to transfer the Varsity men to the Hanlan Boat Club in 1979. In

this he was following his old school, UCC, which had rnoved the previous year. The

move was not simply, or even in great part, a show of solidarity with women's rights.

According to Bons Klavora, who coached at both UCC and U of T, push and pull factors

were at The carrots drawing the programs to Hanlan were calmer water conditions

and the prospect of sharing better equipment. Frequent quarrels with the "very user-

unfnendly" Argonaut board were the stick'" For Turner, there was also the

inconvenience of the status quo- managing a team fiom two separate locations since

women were not allowed into the Argonaut Rowing Club. As Klavora put it, "the

cornmitment to excellence made it necessary. AI1 1 wanted was the atmosphere designed

to completely concentrate on the sport.'f' Turner, who like many elite rowers would

come to greatly respect Klavora, concurred. In the event, the 1979 season produced

mixed results. The women, in only their second year of cornpetition finishcd second at

the OWIAA championship. The men were only fim.

1980 was notable for two reasons- one a major tuming point. the other a brief flash. Bob

Boraks. having retumed for further studies, negotiated the return of the UTRC to the

Argonaut Rowing Club. The main condition was that the women be allowed to come as

well. This transition was enabled by a leadership change within the ARC. As a historian

of the Argonauts wrote;

The low point in the club's histoty came in 1979 when just four Argonaut oarsmen raced at the Canadian Henley. For chose who had been associated with the club or were then rowing elsewhere it was a sad and miserable spectacle. The abrupt decline in the rowing membership was atnibuted to dissatisfaction with the club's management. The trust hnd that had provided the club with its

"O Boris Klavora to author, 3 June, 1999, author's coUection, 4 l Both Turner and Klavora alIude to arguments as king push factors. "'Klavora, ibid. financial secun'ty and ensured a steady flow of new equipment had been mostly squandered. The resulting financial difficulties that staned in that period continue to dog the club to this day.

In the adversity some of the former members took it upon themselves to rally and reorganize. In 1980 Jim Ingarn. a long tirne member. bullied his way into the club captainship and took charge of the rowing pro-mm. Recniiting an eager group of coaches the club's fortunes changed.. .More significantly and in defiance of t!e board of directors lngrarn pushed for and started a women's program.''

It was eight years since the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen had changed its narne to the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association, reflecting the inauguration of women's events at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, It was six years since the first U of T women's crew had been refused entry. It was four years after women's rowing had been introduced at the Olympic Games. Now, finally, the all-male enclave on Lake

Ontario had been breached. Since 1980 both male and female students of the University of Toronto have had equal access to the Argonaut Rowing Club.

It was a good time to be an athlete at U of T. In 1977-78 the men's and women's athletic associations had merged into one entity- the Department of Athletics and Recreation. The

DAR oversaw the brand-new multi-million doIlar Athletic Centre constructed at the corner of Harbord St. and Spadina Rd. in 1980. Dwarfing Hart House. whom it replaced as headquarters for sport at the University, the AC housed an Olympic pool. a 200m indoor track, weight room. courts and laboratories for the department of physical education. 1980 was Varsity rowing's lucky year because the rowers got their first professional head coach. However, the University did not broker this arrangement. Sam

Craig, the CARA vice-president and founder of the Hanlan Boat Club, wanted a coach for UCC and for Hanlan and had offered a paid position to Boris Klavora, a Yugoslav

- - '' Xavier Macia, ..The Argonaut Rowing Club: A History on iü 125* Anniversary*', unpublished paper. Varsity rowcr Lamy Marshall was the first coach of the womenbsprogram at the Argonaut Rowing Club. recently apprenticed to renowned coach Thor Nilsen. To supplement this salary. Craig arranged for CARA, through Sport Canada, to provide a pnt to the University of

Toronto for rowing. Klavom would coach UCC in the spnng, Hanlan in the summer, U of

T in the fa11 and all programs in the winter.

Klavora's presence, combined with that of Tim Turner, drew more world-class rowers:

Turner's brother Par, Jirn Relle, and Bnan sinclair? This foursome of lightweights had rowed at World Championships the previous year, winning a bronze medal. The impact was immediate. Klavora, who coached both the men's and women's crews, noted that:

The four intemationals. particularly the wo Turner brothers, were "spark plugs" for the other athleres to work hard. Their enthusirism and hard work was contagious ... Both the men's and women's prograrns benefited a great deal from their presence.'"

Bolstered by these talented oarsmen, the Varsity men's eight was undefeated that season, and along with a strong showing by the lightweights and novices, Toronto won the

OUAA title. The women finished third, but only one point behind first place. Overall, this rernains the University of Toronto Rowing Club's best ever showing at the Ontario

University Rowing Championships.

The UTRC was back for good. Making it in the 1970s had been a notable achievement.

University support, though markedly irnproved since the previous decade, had been inconsistent. The Argonaut Rowing Club's interna1 difficulties complicated the situation for al1 rowers, particularly women. Students and volunteers assumed a greater role in ensunng the proper functioning of the team and succeeded, for the most part. Poor early

- - ~ SI Pat Turner and Jim Relle were tirst-year students from UCC. Tim Turner had convinced Sinclair to transfer from the University of British Columbia. J5 Boris Klavora to author, 3 June, 1999, author's collection. performances gave way to strong membership, healthy morale, and a fair share of cornpetitive success. The 1977 and 1980 OUAA championships are particularly notable since Toronto men have not captured the title since. 1980 is also significant because it represents the one and onIy time the UTRC benefited from professional coaching. The

Sport Canada gant to the University of Toronto had been a one-time deal. Bons Klavora lefi Toronto to assume a full-time position overseeing elite rowing in Vancouver, and began his eight-year tenure as a national team coach, which included the 1984 and 1988

Olympic Games. What money there was to be spent on rowing in Canada was clearly not in Toronto.